Thursday, April 5, 2018

Cassette Review:Awkward Geisha "Blue Elephant" (EAR ROT)

This begins with this trumpet sound buried in static and it reminds me of the intro to an old cartoon. Jazz sounds come in next as the horns, percussion and bass line all take me back to that sound which first had me fall in love with Awkward Geisha. That drive, that controlled chaos. The first track is called "Live At The Jazz Bar, Dubai" and I can't tell whether or not this is something they got together and played in an improv way or if it was rehearsed and a lot of the brilliance is in that. (Though, to be fair, in the credits it does say that Ludwig Dementgenstein handled bass improvisation on the first song and titular track)

And then on "What Would Happen Then?" it sounds like a kid is singing about what would happen if the sun stopped shining. There is a squeaky sax and pianos of doom bringing the point home. The darkness I feel in this song- the post apocalyptic vibe- somehow combined with a little bit of Benny Hill is just crazy. The pianos also remind me of that one song on "Trees" where the same line was on repeat. This time though it's more like the kid is on repeat and there are other sounds brought in which makes it less repetitive.

Really loud harsh static comes through on the third song and the way it goes from being so somber to this bolt of violence can knock you out of your seat. I like to keep these reviews as truthful as possible and not only does that mean saying that which I believe but it also means not hiding anything to make myself look good. So, I cannot lie: when I first heard this song change it startled me; I kind of jumped in my seat. There is no shame in that though. The best music always makes you feel something.

This quiets down into piano keys though. A slight ringing. It'd be soothing- something I would listen to while swimming- if it wasn't for that dog whistle type of sharpness accompanying it all (And yes, I realize that is the point). Singing and someone saying "Now" gets stuck on repeat and, yes, Awkward Geisha likes to take these ideas and loop them but thus far I have yet to hear a bad one. Harshness comes back again as the loop ends. It sounds kind of like a drill. I hope my neighbors enjoy it since they were playing their terrible radio rap for me before.

I can hear horns coming in through this radio static sharpness. The track ends with this weird synth part that doesn't seem like it should be part of the song and as such, Side A is brought to a close as well. Dreamy sounding synth rock, horns and big double bass drums kick things off on the flip side. At times it feels like the horns are playing scales and the drums are just pounding it in.

The next song comes out with vocals right away- which are once again from I, Eternal so I would venture to say that I, Eternal is a part of Awkward Geisha- and higher piano keys that sound like alien tones overall. This song is about the beats, as it's called "Kill Yr Beat Poets", but it reminds me of something more out of "The X-Files". A sax makes its way into the thick of it now. There is a peaceful yet eerie vibe to this song. Bass lines bring out horns and we're into that jazz noise sound once again (or is it noise jazz?) It slows down though and the bass and horns begin to sound as if they are waning.

Wild drums and some words being spoken about creativity and the guy's nurse being his real mother shapes the way for someone talking about how they had no real training to become a movie star. They became an actor on accident. Wow. This reminds me of a story about writing I don't like and that hits close to home to me (Let's just say a certain writer of kids books was once only an artist then couldn't find someone to write one with him so he decided to do it himself because writing is easy lolz) "Success to me?" Do. Do. Dododo. Dooo.

As per the Ear Rot Bandcamp page, "Blue Elephant" is the first piece of music Awkward Geisha ever posted to Bandcamp and when looking at the AG Bandcamp the story checks out. Oddly, "Trees" (Which I previously reviewed on cassette) I would hope that the physical eventually catches up with the digital and if I keep listening to the cassettes I can have heard all the albums in time but right now I can tell you I'm not going in any particular order it would seem and I think that just really fits the style of music created by Awkward Geisha.